KOZMIK KORNER BY LUSH GUMBALL

Q: I read a story about a guy who stayed in a low-cost motel while traveling on business. It was provided by the person who hired him, not one he would have selected. Immediately after checking in, he experienced lights flickering on and off, the television changes channels without a remote and yelling from an adjacent vacant room. His phone didn’t work, so he couldn’t call anyone. He couldn’t even check out because nobody was at the office. Was he just a victim of cruddy lodging or could this place have been haunted?

A: Could be both. Sounds like he was staying at the Bates Motel. Hopefully, he didn’t take a shower.
Q: I have read this column every month for years now. I’m not sure why. Sometimes I think people just make up stuff to read what they sent in in a credible publication. I mean, how many times have people seen but not photographed Bigfoot, or actually brought an alien home to meet their parents, or had a ghost stay around long enough for someone other than their pet to witness the haunting? With Halloween and Dia de los Muertos happening, and the Ouija movie showing, every nut job in the world is going to be claiming to have vampire stories. Don’t you think?

A: As a matter of fact, I do think. As far as people writing just to see their story in print in this paper, I hope you enjoy it. But don’t tell anyone.
Q: This actually happened to my husband and myself in an apartment in Georgia. The place was 100 old and inhabited by a man and woman ghost. They were harmless, but noisy. It seemed they want to annoy us to moving, like it was their home. My husband and I put up with them for a couple of years until we moved to Ohio for a job change. Our dog was more freaked by their presence than we were. Are there friendly ghosts?

A: Sure. Haven’t you ever heard of Casper, The Friendly Ghost?
Q: A friend told me about a time he and another friend were walking in the gardens when all of a sudden I was in a very strange place where the trees were so tall and the toadstools were taller than me. Everything was still and brown and there were no flowers or leaves — as if time stood still. The thing that impressed me mostly was how small I had become all of a sudden. His friend then reappeared and said he was looking for him for hours. Could this be an example of time lapse or missing time?